My first full Uber experience, Great and Horrible Experiences

After having posted and practiced vicariously thru friends , I had my first real Uber experience the other day.
It was great and terrible. Completely based on the driver.
I am located in Carlsbad, Ca. and had a conference at the Concourse at LAX a hotel. The location of the hotel plays into the story. It is at the entrance of LAX and is the closest to the airport. right in-front of the LAX sign. As of May 2015, Uber is allowed to drop off but not pick up at the airport.

I arrived at Union (train) Station in  Los Angeles at 7:30 in the morning, Hit my Uber app on my phone and with in 10 minutes my ride was there.
Because it was in the middle of the morning commute, I got a notice that said the fees would be 1.7 times higher for the next 5 minutes. I waited the 5 minutes to request the ride.
The app allowed me to follow my ride until it arrived, a picture of the driver and the license plate number was listed. When you leave Union Station go out the front entrance and walk to the right. The Uber driver will meet you in the passenger loading zone.
My driver was friendly, was able to maneuver around a lot of the traffic and I arrived at my conference a half hour later. (## Yes, LAX is no where close to the train station) The FlyAway is only $8 each way and works well, I have taken it several times. But since I wasn't going directly to LAX I took Uber.
The total cost was $22.00 which was waived for my first ride. I was confident and ready to use Uber again that afternoon.

Now the bad. As Uber cannot pick up at the airport, you must move the location pin on your phone which is where Uber will find you, down the street, so Uber will pick you up. I did not know you could do this until the next day when I was sharing my HORRIBLE experience with other conference goers. The afternoon concierge at the hotel told me to walk down the street until Uber recognizes you. So in the middle of a not great part of town, off I went walking. (TIP: you can move the location pin then once you get your ride, call or text the driver of your real location. found this out the next day so did not try it).
The driver arrived at the corner about 20 minutes later. Once in his car, he took the long way back to the train station, I at first thought he was going around traffic. Wrong, he at the height of the traffic got ON the freeway while I saw the above mentioned FlyAway get off and go the way my morning driver did. Uber estimates the time of the drive (accounting for traffic) and it was 45 mins. NOPE 1.5 hours later, we arrive.
He charged me for the extra time and the fee was over 30 dollars. Ridiculous. Second, he was an older gentleman was playing loudly the most foul rap music. I am not a prude but this made the trip even more awkward and I did feel unsafe. 

The good part is you can review your driver afterwards. I DID with both the good and bad drivers.

Second, you are given pictures of the driver, car and license plate. So there is no chance of getting in the wrong car.

I would and will use Uber again, but now I have learned and will check out a few drivers before getting in for a long ride.

Next time I may try Lyft to see the difference.

UBER: OOPPSSS

I have a friend that does not drive , he is ambulatory and has always used public transportation. I had encouraged him to use Uber.

Here is my disclaimer. I wanted to see how it would work. Every 20someting I know has applied for and at least attempted to work for either Uber or Lyft. I do think they are great alternatives to a taxi. Here is San Diego, they are trying to level the playing field with Taxi licenses being easier to get and there by lowering the cost and making them more competitive. 

Anyway, so together my friend and I downloaded the app, inputted his Credit Card number and decided to try it the next day.
(here is the Caveat) We did this on St. Patty's Day and did not want to be out and about with other drunks. This is why we thought we would do it the next day. My friend has to go to work but wanted someone there and I wanted to see the whole program in action. We met the next day at around 8:30 a.m.


Excited, we pulled out his phone and tapped the app. He listed where he wanted to go and said schedule...

NOTHING!! It must have been an amazing St. Patty's Day Celebration because there was not an UBER anywhere..  Thank goodness he was able to run to the bus and get where he needed to be.

One other person, had a mad semi lost driver with Uber. She doesn't drive and wanted to try it out and go to a smoothie place. The driver kept asking her where it was (yes she had inputted the address) once there, she asked her to wait 5 minutes while she gets her smoothie and the driver said No and took off.

Most of the experiences I hear about are great, but do not use UBER the day after a holiday and make sure you can guide your driver. :)

Santa Barbara Get Away. How to extend your weekend get away!

In a recent post, I mentioned train travel and the joys of including the transportation as part of the vacation... A few days later, Gov. Jerry Brown, here in California, announced the first leg of construction on California's first bullet train had started... ..
With the new year in full swing, getting away for a short vacation is difficult... But you can still have a short, non-hectic, relaxing or family get away for a very reasonable price.
From San Diego, Ca. it is very easy to take the Amtrak to Santa Barbara... From where I am located, Carlsbad, Ca. it is only 39.00 each way to take the train....
You are able to sit back and enjoy the trip up the California Coastline.
While in Santa Barbara, you may either take advantage of a winter hotel get away package or use (for a couple) AirBnB... For families there are also other private options to find a short term rental.(AH!!! my next Blog Article, Coming out on Jan. 14th, 2015)...
Walking around the town is part of the fun... but as with lodging, you can rent a car or use Uber, Lyft or a Taxi (list of all taxi's in S.B.)... Santa Barbara also has a program to encourage and highlight that you can visit there and enjoy all it has to offer  Car Free.
The beaches, wineries, art galleries and shops make for a great vacation close to home.. Taking the train, allows you to extend your vacation from the moment you leave your home to the moment you arrive home...
Please use the links in this article to explore more of what Santa Barbara and Amtrak have to offer.